Justification:
This is a deeper water species and has a broad distribution in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean. It is moderately small and sought by aquarium fish collectors, but there is no available catch data. There are no known major threats. It is listed as Least Concern.

This species is found from the Red Sea to the eastern coast of Africa (Kenya and Comoros Islands), Madagascar and eastward to Christmas Island (Australia). Records from the Comoros Islands are questionable since it might have been based on B. tanyokidus, which was thought to be a male of B. opercularis. However, species might most likely be found in the Comoros (R. Myers pers. comm. 2008).

A small species, to at least 132 mm SL. It occurs at intermediate depths, specimens collected in 42-61 m on deep rock and coral reefs and along vertical drop-offs (Gomon 2006). It was collected in 32 m depth in the Red Sea (Lieske and Myers 2004).